Tiafoe Claims Biggest Title of Career With Win Over Fritz in Halle
Frances Tiafoe defeated Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to capture the Terra Wortmann Open title in Halle, Germany. Tiafoe became the first American man to win in Halle, and claims the first ATP 500 title of his career.
Tiafoe’s previous three titles all come at the ATP 250 level, and he was 0-4 in finals above that level heading into Sunday.
“I’ve lost a lot of 500 finals. I’ve lost a lot of finals in my career,” said Tiafoe. “This is big. I just want to say one of my favorite scriptures: The pain that you’re feeling does not compare to the joy that is coming. Obviously, that has been proven very true…A couple of weeks ago, I had one of the toughest losses of my career at the French Open, and to come back and have a good week in Stuttgart and win here for my biggest title, beating the players I did, it’s a huge testimony to that quote. It’s something I’ve been living by.”
Entering the final, Tiafoe had lost his last seven matches to his good friend Fritz, but got the decisive break for a 4-3 lead in the opening set. A couple of games later, he served out the set.
He then broke to open up the second set, and continued his dominant serving to wrap up the title in straight sets.
“I don’t even know what clip I was serving in the first set, but I felt like I couldn’t miss one,” Tiafoe said. “I returned really well. I had no troubles on serve the whole match, and it just feels good to get this done. I played a clean match, but I had to. He’s a hell of a player and a hell of a competitor too. I knew he was going to make it hard out there at the end and I played some great tennis. Luck was on my way a little bit.”
As a result of his win, Tiafoe moves back into the Top 20, rising nine spots to World No. 19.
